Mary Elizabeth Simmons-Sierer

Mary Elizabeth Simmons-Sierer was born in Pueblo, Colorado, on January 6^th, 1950, to Harry Hugh Simmons and Mary Elizabeth Pendleton. She was their third child with older brothers James Leslie Simmons and Timothy Heath Simmons and a younger sister, Martha Jane Simmons.

She attended public schools in Pueblo and attended Southern Colorado State College in Pueblo for her freshman year of college, transferring to Brigham Young University as a sophomore. She won a Rotary Club scholarship, spending a year attending the University of Oslo as an exchange student. Returning to Brigham Young, she graduated with a BS in economics, business and computer science in 1973.

She joined a variety of service clubs and organizations at BYU. Influenced by the faith and lifestyles of her college roommates, she studied the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and joined the Church in 1973. Her newfound faith sustained her throughout the rest of her life.

Following graduation, she worked in Phoenix and Tucson for several years, returning to Denver Colorado in 1977. There she met Howard Sierer and the two were married in the Salt Lake Temple on 28 January 1978. Two children filled out their family, Todd in 1980 and Elizabeth (Liz) in 1982.

The family lived in the Denver area through 1993 interrupted by two short-term company assignments to Los Angeles in 1980-81 and Mount Vernon, Virginia, in 1988-90. While in Virginia, Mary Beth was selected as a docent at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., one of the highlights of her life.

Returning to Denver, Mary Beth became a docent at the Denver Art Museum and following the family’s move to Omaha, Nebraska, in 1993, she became a docent at the Joslyn Art Museum. With an animated and engaging teaching style, she specialized in teaching elementary age children in all three art museums.

The couple retired to Southern Utah in 2000 where Mary Beth continued her Church service locally and with Howard, served as a Church missionary first on the island nation of Malta in 2005-07 and then in New Jersey in 2011-12.

Adding to her many friends at church and in her neighborhood, she  joined the Pomegranate book club, making new friends who shared her love of reading, typically 50 or more books a year.

Her upbeat and enthusiastic personality brightened every room she entered. She loved to interact with others, finding humor that left people laughing. She was always service-minded, ready to help others while rarely focusing on her own needs.

In late 2020, she contracted a very rare cancer, angiosarcoma (1 case in 10,000). She demonstrated courage and commitment through three years of surgeries, radiation and debilitating chemotherapies. When all had slowed but failed to eliminate the cancer, she chose to enter hospice care in January 2024 and passed away on 17 February 2024 at her home with her husband and children at her side.

Mary Beth was preceded in death by her father and her mother. She is survived by her two older brothers and younger sister, her husband, Howard, her son, Todd (Katie), her daughter, Liz (Scott Valdivieso), and seven grandchildren (Clark, Javier, Charlotte, Ellie, Isabel, Hannah, Lucia).

Her funeral services will be on February 24^th, 2024, at 11am at the LDS chapel at 625 East Center Street in Ivins, Utah. A visitation will be held from 9:30am to 10:45am at the same location. She will be buried at the Tonaquint Cemetery in St. George, UT.

In lieu of flowers or other gifts, Mary Beth requested that any such spending should be directed to one of two favorite charities where she has been a long-time donor:

• Humanitarian Aid Fund
• SwitchPoint A local homeless services organization in St. George

Services may be viewed through the zoom link below:

https://zoom.us/j/94175788721